News and Media

BATON ROUGE - October 23, 2020 - Lisa Verma, senior director of Professional Development & Community Programs at LSU Online & Continuing Education, was awarded the 2020 Outstanding Service to Professional, Continuing and Online Education Award at the 2020 UPCEA South Region Conference on October 27. This award recognizes an individual that has contributed substantially to the development and maintenance of their institution and has demonstrated service which has been recognized and valued by their institution and UPCEA South.

“Lisa has been at LSU for over 27 years and exemplifies the type of staff member that is crucial to the success of LSU,” said Kristy Anthony, director of professional development. “Her dedication, job performance and service to UPCEA is commendable and worthy of this recognition.”

Verma has served in many capacities in Continuing Education for the past 22 years. In her current role, she is primarily focused on maintaining strong relationships with organizations in need of upskilling options for their employees, developing training and funding proposals, and plays a lead role in finding world-class instructors for cutting edge programs like DevOps, Fintech, and more.

“Everything I accomplished is largely due to the incredible team I have,” said Verma. “I am thankful for the opportunity to be a part of higher education for over two decades and my involvement with UPCEA has been one of my greatest professional experiences.”

Additionally, Noel Steffes Melancon, an instructor for LSU Online & Continuing Education Paralegal Studies Certificate Program, was awarded the 2020 UPCEA South Professional, Continuing and Online Education Instruction Award.

See the full list of award winners from the 2020 UPCEA South Region Conference.

About the University Professional & Continuing Education Association

UPCEA is the leading association for professional, continuing, and online education. For more than 100 years, UPCEA has served most of the leading public and private colleges and universities in North America. Founded in 1915, the association serves its members with innovative conferences and specialty seminars, research and benchmarking information, professional networking opportunities and timely publications. Based in Washington, D.C., UPCEA also builds greater awareness of the vital link between contemporary learners and public policy issues.